#4 EMU ESI-4000 Turbo

http://www.vintagesynth.com/emu/esi4000.php  pretty much lays out what this beast does, or at least what it is technically capable of.

I'm note sure where it sits in the hierarchy of Emu rack samplers (being that this is the only EMU I own), and I have no way of comparing the sound of a 4000 to that of the rest of the EMUs all I can do is compare to the sound of Akais... (which is difficult as I will explain)

The thing about samplers is they each have a distinctive sound to them, this is because of the AD/DA hardware and the associated processes.  Another thing that adds to a samplers characteristics is its limitations and abilities.
The 4000, coming with a load of onboard fx etc, doesnt have that many limitation just a load of chararcter,

Before I got the EMU I had also heard of a list of producers that preffered the EMU samplers over Akais and that helped sway me in the direction of an EMU.

The fact this particular model (without the Turbo extension) already comes with some FX and processes makes it quite powerful to start with, when we throw in the Turbo options it opens so many more possibilities.

Editing

Editing samples directly through the sampler isn't as bad as it seems (although visual editing is always preffered), it can be a bit tedious at times but considering the fact a sample only needs to be trimmed once the time pays off.  Editing is done via the buttons and dial on front unless you have the ability to edit and save in the correct format on to disk or scsi drive.

Loading and Saving

It is also worth noting that it is ompatible with Akai S-1000/1100 and E-mu EIIIx, ESI-32, and EmaxII libraries via SCSI, and its own format can be loaded on other samplers (depends on the sampler) in the same way. 

For me that means I can load samples and loops saved in S1k for,at from my S5000 disks, but little more.

Creative Use

How it is used is down to the individual (and I certainly aint giving any secrets away) but with

• Stereo phase-locked time compression/expansion
• Audio scrub
• Auto normalize
• Compressor 
• Auto truncate
• Crossfade looping 
• Doppler/Pan
• Exciter 
• Pitch change
• Parametric EQ 
• Sample rate conversion
• Transform/Multiply

- A lot can be done, not forgetting it has 64 digital 6-pole filters *18 different kinds*, its got 8 outs (4 on standard 4000) and for what its worth the stereo fx are 24 bit.
Its also 64-voice polyphonic which is double any Akai sampler of the era with the exception of the Akai S5000 and S6000 (which have 64 as standard and are expandable to 128).

Being a rack sampler it requires an external sequencer and thats pretty much where the creative side comes in to play... A good sequencer (on top of letting you edit and trigger notes) will allow access to the machines SYSEX control signals and unleash its potential.

 

**Unfinished**